‘Although the Red scare was exploited by self-seeking individuals it was rooted in a very real threat to the USA’ how far do you agree with this judgment?

It is accurate to argue that the Red Scare has been exploited by some self-seeking individuals such as Joseph McCarthy after the Second World War, and that the real problem and monolithic view of communism was a real threat to America during the Cold War up until the 1990s. As the relationship between American and the USSR had intensified through 1940-50s, the panic and mass hysteria in reaction to the perceived threat of communism inversion of American values and its branches of government had lead to a series of actions that would influence America both politically and socially.

It could be suggested that the growing hysteria from the public and the government towards communism has upraised due to threats caused by the USSR, as it may impact America’s ideology. The idea of the ‘domino theory’ suggested by Eisenhower states that as one state is influenced by Communism, countries surrounding it may as well be impacted thus become a communist state. In 1949, the USSR had successfully produced a nuclear bomb made people in the US confirm the fear of having traitors at the heart of the government. The loss of China had also created a negative impact on the reaction of the United States, thus make people believe the ‘domino theory’. The majority blamed the loss of China was due to weak-minded individuals by right-wing press and the so-called China lobby. Other incidents happen to support the domino theory, such as the Korean War, which encouraged U.S to put military power into South Korea to oppose an invasion of communism by the North. The invasion seem to let America realize that if communism is not effectively pressed down, their own country will be in a dangerous state, having a risk of being a communist